Market Sell Out! + How I priced my bouquets & calculated their cost for profitability

Lots covered in this video, from resources that I swear by for post harvest, to more systematic pricing of bouquets, and finally to how I calculate by COGs for bouquets. You won't want to miss this one!
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[@suellenbarnes697]

From one nerd to another, I loved watching this video. Straightforward, informative, logical, and upbeat. Thanks for providing!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you!!! Appreciate there are other 🤓 out there!

[@DianeMorissette]

As a CPA, I appreciate that you focus on net income, and not just gross sales. So many people are fooled into thinking they are successful because their gross sales figures are larger than somebody else’s, but the bottom line really is the bottom line :-)

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

For me, real estate factors into the profitability of a flower. My quarter acre city lot that includes our house and two car garage does not have a lot of growing space and pro cut sunflowers take a lot of room. For that reason I consider them an expensive flower to grow and factor them at $3 per stem. My market bouquets consist of 1 large, airy sprig of feverfew that 3 astilbe or 2+1 russian sage poke through, a handful of Bachelor's buttons surround that, 4 sunflowers or 3+1 large hosta flower evenly space around t, and 3 stems of borage also evenly space around it for $20. As you can see my bouquets are somewhat symmetrical. This past week I had 13 bouquets at $20 of which I sold all. I also sell canning jar or small vases with other flowers with the main focus right now of sweet peas for $15 an arrangement. These are not symmetrical and are a hodge podge of whatever I have available for flowers or filler. At my roadside flower wagon I only sell flowers, at the market, which is only 6 blocks away, I also sell soap, soap dishes, art cards, magnets, limited edition watercolour prints, and signed and framed fine art photo prints. Two six foot tables in an L shape with a couple of small folding tables in the other front corner with the bouquets on or at the foot of it. I keep the bouquets in milk jugs with the tops cut open inside florist buckets so that if the customer wants to keep the bouquets in water, they can take the milk jug with water. Half take it, half don't.

[@bareflowerfarm]

The real estate piece is a great point that I did not factor in bc space has become a luxury even though just a few months ago it was not! I would fully agree with you on this piece and it’s great that you are able to sell bouquets at that price! I think if I had 13 bouquets I could have fetched $20. But with 30 bouquets, I’m not confidence i have enough people who would be willing to pay that (and clearly not for the sunflowers!)

[@kaitlinjohnson2915]

I love that you get into all the nitty gritty details. Thank you and congrats on a great market showing!

[@itsbloomingflowers]

I hope 🤞 you hit lots of subscribers flower friend because your experience and clear information it’s truly very helpful ☺️

[@armstrongacres]

Just found you. As a math teacher turned flower farmer, I appreciate your numbers. I knew I found a soul mate when you mentioned Pareto's Principle :-)

[@bareflowerfarm]

Awww! Haha yes, a very underrated principle in the flower farming world ;-)

[@jeannet9592]

Your bouquets are beautiful! Thanks for all of the tips!

[@amberlangford8471]

I bought those same white buckets for my market display :) Thanks for the video, your flowers look great!

[@pippenf.5111]

Hey , Jessie love your videos and how you break everything down. I have been gardening for many decades and expanded this year to three large flower beds. To take a test run at growing flower for cutting. It has been a tough year, between the moles destroying my beds and the chipmunks and squirrels eating all my sunflowers. I planted hundreds of them, even the transplants are eaten. It seems like the odds are against me. I will have to invest in more netting and I'm planting foxgloves along the edge of all my beds. They seem to be the only plants that the moles won't dig under. Fingers crossed. I wanted to let you know about a great flower I discovered to have a great vase life. Platycodon grandiflorus, or balloon flower. I can put it in a vase without changing the water and it still looked fresh 7 days later. It is an easy to grow perennial, Mine are in partial shade.(zones 3 to8) I have the short blue ones but they have tall varieties that are white , pink and blue. My grandson loves them because they look like a balloon and he can pop them open without hurting the flower. Bonus they bloom for about a month and will make more bloom if you dead head. I enjoy your videos very much thank you for your time and information. Much luck to you in the future.

[@aongv]

Thanks for your transparency. Also, love your couch in the back! Looks comfy and good for naps after harvesting flowers😊😆

[@bareflowerfarm]

Haha you are very accurate in that assessment 😄

[@debrabateman-dwyer8667]

Jessie thanks for all the good information. I’m in 6a and just behind you in grow season and your information on sunflowers was great! I have to look up the snap dragon dip as I’m not familiar with that practice :)

[@ambethk77]

I really appreciate you breaking everything down!

[@littlewagonfarmstead]

Thank you so much for this! This was exactly what i needed because I have really struggled with pricing too. Thank you!

[@darcydignan]

Hi Jess! Congrats on the market! I just received my first florist order for Procuts today and they want their stems in 3 days. And of course they are ready now. This video couldn’t have come at a more perfect time! Thanks so much!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Congrats on your first florist order! 👏🏼

[@Cherryparfait41]

Glad to have found you! I thoroughly enjoy you embracing the nerdy specifics of the handling and numbers. I’ve always been a ‘grower’ for pleasure. Maybe, I’ll eventually hit the market scene…getting a feel for what I can produce efficiently still. But, I find your sharing will be beneficial to so many. Thank you! Also, because I haven’t even visited markets I can’t attest to the flow, but it seems people may wait to stop by your shop later if they know there will be a possible price drop at that time. I always envisioned people wanting to buy flowers, would pick those up last, after perusing, wanting them to remain hydrated…is that not the case? Just loving your enthusiasm and your journey and, of course, wishing you continued success!! Can’t wait to see how this season progresses. ~Smiles 🌻🐝🌻

[@bareflowerfarm]

I find that people typically spend maybe 20 min at the market. Some people do come by last to get flowers to remain hydrated but that’s a minority. I think a lot of people like walking around with flowers even on a hot day ☺️. Glad you are appreciating the neediness within flowers 🤓

[@sarahlovesdonuts9601]

I appreciate all of the information you continue to share with us. It has been a work intensive season for you, so taking the time to film and edit seems even more generous to me. What is your of inching the snaps? I’ve decided that I prefer the strong, tall, statuesque form they take when not pinched. I’m going to continue to experiment with this. I enjoy your intellectual, scientific approach you take. I love measurable results. I hope your business continues to blossom 🌸💗🌸

[@bareflowerfarm]

Hey there! I place my snaps in hortonova netting so that’s 6 inches. But it’s basically 2-3 per 6 inches. That’s now bare mountain does it too and I have seen no difference with stem strength and length!

[@kaitlinjohnson2915]

I agree. I love my Potomac snaps unpinched. They are massive!

[@sarahlovesdonuts9601]

@@bareflowerfarm yup, I do the same. I just see a huge difference with the non pinched snaps. They are taller and stronger. With each variety that I planted, I pinched half to see the difference. On a Gardeners Workshop podcast they suggested that when selling wholesale, the florists prefer the non pinched stems. Obviously every wholesaler, florist,🌸💗🌸 and even variety differ. I have learned so much from Bare Mountain. They are lovely people and also generous in sharing their knowledge. I do so appreciate all that you are sharing. I find your format really keeps my mind engaged. THANK YOU!!!

[@clairegill7891]

Wow this is interesting 🤔 thank you! I’m not going to pinch my Potomac I’ll leave them if the stems are more better 😍

[@cindynicholson372]

Super analysis. Thanks so much.

[@LilChefKimi]

I’m learning so much from you! Tysm for all you share.

[@jesspribby2113]

Great information! Thank you so much for sharing.

[@priscillahudson3625]

Thanks so much! Love your channel! 🌻

[@LimeKilnFarmNY]

real good stuff. Excited to watch your progress. Old time farmer but new flower farmer here

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you!! Best of luck to you as you grow flowers. I found that my very limited knowledge of vegetable growing is very transferrable to flowers. The only new piece is learning harvesting and harvesting by market type (ie florist vs customer)

[@sweetsouthflowers]

I just wanted you to know I watch your videos pretty regular and always learn something. I don’t consider myself a numbers girl when you HAVE to be in this business. I love the way you share how you get your numbers and it makes perfect sense to me. 💗💗💗

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you so much for the kind words. You are totally right. This HAS to be a numbers bc it’s so easy for it not to be with all of the steps along the way!

[@veronicamartinezmedema8273]

Thank you so much for sharing you skills and resources. I’m from California but I live in the Netherlands and am looking to starting a flowers business and sell at markets. Thank you

[@shealynn1761]

Super helpful. Thank you.

[@Samantha-ps2vv]

Very helpful!! Thank you!! 💐

[@LongislandnativeSanctuary]

perfect breakdown, thank you!!

[@LongislandnativeSanctuary]

thank you so much, you are amazing!!

[@olgak506]

I don't even know why im watching this hour long break down , I just wanted to see the flower bunches I guess 🤣🤣🤣but this video came on after Flower Hill Farm and there she was setting up her flower stand WITHOUT pre-making Any bouquets ! she was making them up as she was standing there all day doing nothing between the customers , and I thought that was very brave of her but also very smart and time saving !!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Lol! It's super smart. In my first year, I was too unconfident to do that but I could totally picture myself doing that now bc to your point, so much time saved!

[@alisonburgess345]

Excellent video Jessie. I'm six months behind you (in Australia) and hoping for the best. Your analytical approach is brilliant. Well done! Any competitors at the market? How do your prices compare?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you, Alison! I actually forgot to mention this but yes! There’s another vendor who sells veggies but has some small bunches. They’re actually quite nice- strawflower, celosia, statice, gomphrena, snaps, and a couple of focals. She doesn’t wrap it and sells it for $5. I actually had a customer buy one of my bouquets after buying 2 from hers, I didn’t realize she was selling for so low until today when I spoke to the customer! I think we have two completely different types of customers luckily!

[@bloomingnut23]

Wow your first market you made $700?😳. I did my first market and was lucky to make $100. It is a small town.... Heading to the city next Wednesday to sell. 🤞

[@bareflowerfarm]

One thing to remember is that I am selling soaps/candles alongside flowers at a relatively high foot traffic market. Thus far, my highest flower market was today at $445. Today’s $800 market was comprised of 43 transactions which isn’t a lot when you consider that thousands of people come to this market. A question for you is- were you lucky to make $100 bc there’s so few people? Or were you limited by how many stems you have? I have noticed that I need ALOT of bouquets to attract people to my table.

[@zoeh2359]

I wish you were where I lived! I would have bought the sunflowers!

[@bareflowerfarm]

That is very sweet of you!

[@sislertx]

Thats great...wonderful! U must live in a very well off area. Our farmers market really only people selling food make money...we are down to one flower seller and one plant seller....but to be HONEST its so hot NO ONE HAS DECENT THINGS...109 IN SHADE YESTERDAY

[@bareflowerfarm]

I do live in an area with decent income but I also live in NJ which tends to be a high income state in general. But lol with 109F in shade it doesn’t matter what area you’re in, nobody is leaving the house 🥵

[@sislertx]

@@bareflowerfarm oh they do...i went and got a hand made leather purse for 50 BUCKS..its beautiful...but everyone is gone at 12..lol..last hour only.vendors are there..heats so oppresive here.

[@firehorsewoman414]

You might consider a future investment in a cooler type fridge. Start watching restaurant equipment auctions for cool cases.

[@anitagrays3457]

The burnt sunflowers made me think of something the Adams family would display. Glad it was only a few.

[@bareflowerfarm]

😂😂😂

[@kelseybusby3927]

Hi, Jessie! Here I am back watching your videos this morning and TAKING notes! Ha! Do you add any kind of plant food or additive into the buckets when placing them in the fridge? Is the jug behind you an additive? Thanks so much! Trying to get prepared as much as possible!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Haha I love it! I never would have expected people to be taking notes from my vidoes lol! Anyway, the answer to your question is, it depends. 1) If it's a dirty stem (think stems that have fuzz) like zinnias, sunflowers, I add a CVBN tablet. This is kinda like a chlorine tablet that helps keep the water clean 2) For most other flowers that are spending over 2 days in the cooler, I will add holding solution. Holding solution helps keep the bacteria at bay and has a little bit of sugar to help feed the stems, but not so much like flower food 3) For stems that can "root", I typically don't add anything. This is typically greenery like tomato vines, silver shield, etc... 4) Certain crops, like tulips, I don't add anything! I feel like I am always learning and adjusting/fine tuning my post harvesting so things may change!

[@THELCG]

Hi :) i‘m watching „you can‘t eat the Grass“ too. And i‘m always converting your prices in €. Your 15us-$ are 14,80€. Their 20CAN-$ are 15,19€. So i think you don‘t set your Price too low (as long as it works for you!)

[@bareflowerfarm]

That’s a great point! I just always assume the USD and CAN$ are on par with each other since that was the case for a few years 🙂

[@helenachase5627]

Im moving away from sunflowers. Not popular here. Im trying posie bouquets for 8 or 10 and larger for 15 or 20. Im trying two bouquets together for 40 this season and will split bouquets later if they don't sell.

[@elizhop]

This video was so jam packed with helpful info! What variety of sunflowers are those? 🌻

[@bareflowerfarm]

These are a few procuts! Peach, brilliance, orange and white lite!

[@shawnsg]

Lol I can't relate to this on several points. Also long comment alert. Speaking of people saying you are undervaluing your flowers. One lady on KZbin, I can't remember her channel off hand, was talking about pricing and how it seems people are willing to pay a premium for vegetables and meat at a farmers market but not for flowers which is something I've noticed as well. Worth in this type of _flower market_ is way more subjective I think. Oh and I can't remember what Can't eat the grass people sell theirs for but $20 is only like ~$15 USD. On a personal note, I definitely do best with straight sunflower bunches. I sell them for $10 for 6-7 stems depending on size and whatnot. I usually have one or two fully open for visual effect and let the customer know as those fade the tight ones will open. Speaking of sunflowers in the fridge, my fridge is colder in the back and this past week I froze several of mine lol. My mixed bouquets I'm struggling with because people are really resistant to breaking the $10 mark at my market, so if I only put 10-13 stems it feels like it looks underwhelming. My market has several other vendors that sell flowers as a side thing and they tend to price them fairly low. For example one has $7 and $10 Mason jar bouquets with a $2 jar deposit. Thrips are the devil. I try and follow a more sustainable agriculture ethos but the thrip pressure was so bad that I ended up having to use several successive rounds of not strictly the most eco friendly pesticides to attempt to get them under control.

[@bareflowerfarm]

That’s really good to know about your sunflower and mix bouquet bunches. You never realize how inconsistent you fridge is till you put flowers in it! Where are you selling where there’s resistance to a $10+ bouquet?

[@shawnsg]

@@bareflowerfarm this resistance probably comes from a combination of sources including me, location, other sellers, region and so on. I live in Arkansas in a twin city. There population combined is 67k. The Metro is 147k. Very rural and conservative. Where saying organic or environmental will get you an eye roll. I've yet to take a credit card payment. I'm not saying that means anything but... Also, we have 2 farmers markets one for each city. So it ends up being two small markets. As opposed to one large one. This past weekend I tried going with 1 x $10 2 x $18 and brought vases to stage the flowers in so they could see what each looked like unpacked so to speak. Thought maybe going with 1-$10 2-$15. But then that feels like it'd be training them badly. They would be getting 20-24 stems in a $15 which would make it difficult for me if I changed plans and wanted to transition to a $15 bouquet standalone where I'm giving them a more realistic stem count. Ugh Edit: for clarification, all the bouquets were similar in size. A buy one get one type incentive. Before this I had a $10 small and $20 large. I had three transactions of people buying $10 in some multiples. It was a mini build your own bouquet. I don't think I sold a single $20 Off the top of my head.

[@pakouchannel854]

Thanks for the visual. The market in MN sells their bouquets for only $10 but I am sure it would be 20 in the stores. I sell mines for $15 at a market outside of the city. Even then, other vendors thinks I under value them but it sells and that's all I am concern about

[@bareflowerfarm]

Every market is different! So it's up to you to figure out what works for you and in your market as you did :)

[@kaitlinjohnson2915]

Re: thrips on snaps I didn’t see any last year, but I’ve seen some this year. It’s only been on my white snaps, though. I had a ton on some white Chantilly snaps-so much that I just chucked them. And then literally none on other colors growing right next to the white ones. So, guess I just won’t grow white snaps again. 😆

[@bareflowerfarm]

Haha grow them as a decoy 😁. But major face palm moment in choosing all white. This is what I get for listening to my husband 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@clairegill7891]

I’m in UK and my garden is full of thrips 😢they attack everything! I’m surrounded by huge hedges and trees so I’m wondering it’s because they overwinter in those 🤔 but it’s where I grow so I have to just suck it up and get on with it eh🥹 Another great video! Thank you 😊

[@earthbybike]

You may consider that the sunflowers were the traditional yellow and brown, a more fall color style; maybe the all yellow or yellow with lime green in the center would be better for this time of year????

[@bareflowerfarm]

Absolutely! I actually grew quite a bit of white lite and white nite but somehow none of my white nite were black. They’re technically in the straight sunflowers bunches shown here! A bunch of peach sunflowers are coming to bloom this week but now it’s too late to do summer colors. Already sowing the fall bicolors!

[@cathykelly6002]

I closed up my booth and packed my van alone in 15 minutes....There was a tornado warning!

[@bareflowerfarm]

That's impressive! Whenever there's incoming rain or some weather hazard, you realize the potential of how quickly you can do things :D

[@griseldaosorio9664]

Hi Jessie loved this video and the books recommendations. Which variety of Sunflowers are those? Procuts? Peach? Etc

[@bareflowerfarm]

They’re all procuts! I sowed peach, white lite, orange and brilliance 🌻

[@griseldaosorio9664]

@@bareflowerfarm the are beautiful 😍, great job 👏👏👏

[@sallyazzato3481]

When did you plant your snapdragon plugs in relation to your last frost date this spring? I'm planning these for next year

[@bareflowerfarm]

For the ones I started from seed, I planted 2 weeks before frost but that’s bc I didn’t have the space prepped. I would have planted a month earlier. For the plugs, I got them in late April so they went in around frost. We had a hard frost after they went into the ground

[@alisonburgess345]

Maybe it could be worth selling the sunflowers singly as well... 🤷‍♀️ People do love them, that's for sure.

[@bareflowerfarm]

I’ve thought about that. What holds me back is “lowering my cart size” and the fact that when sunflowers are bunched, psychologically you may be more willing to pay $2-2.50 a stem (bc you don’t realize the true pricing) versus outright realizing that’s how much it is per stem. Hope that makes sense!

[@leatherbronj]

Amazing video - thank you. Where do you source your cvbn tablets ?

[@bareflowerfarm]

I got mine on eBay bc I was able to score a really good deal like 800 tablets for $50 including shipping. But the gardener’s workshop sells it too!

[@leatherbronj]

@@bareflowerfarm Thanks - I found them on EBAY and purchased -- what a freakin deal !

[@bareflowerfarm]

You prob got it from the same guy as me 😁

[@anniefrankenstein1989]

thank you so much for the advice !! would you give the author of the post harvest book ? I cannot find on amazon !!

[@bareflowerfarm]

It's by John Dole, Robert Stemps, Alicain Carlson, Iftikhar Ahmad, and Lane Greer. It's not on amazon- best bet is via the ASCFG website! www.ascfg.org/shop/books/

[@anniefrankenstein1989]

Thank you so much !!@@bareflowerfarm

[@sarabeescutflowersmore795]

You mentioned refrigerator... This is a silly question but does a refrigerator work the same as a floral cooler?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Yes!! Absolutely, you’re looking for a space that cools, keeps a certain level of humidity and circulates air in the form of a fan!

[@kristytippie8154]

What kind of fence do you have? I have a lot of rabbit pressure and need to find a good solution.

[@bareflowerfarm]

It’s actually a plastic net fence. I wouldn’t recommend the company I bought it from but I did do a video on it in case you’re interested kzbin.info/www/bejne/gF7Xi5SHZ8ugjNE

[@shawnsg]

This may be a cheesy idea but cut a bouquets worth of fully open sunflowers snipped all the way to the ground and create this towering display. As the day goes sell as singles or something. I want to try but haven't had the extra sunflowers for it.

[@bareflowerfarm]

I think there’s merit to this. I purposely but the sunflower bunches taller and put them on an elevated part of the table. They totally attracted people to the table. I’m hesitant to sell singles bc i feel like some people may spend less than $10 when buying by stem. Who knows maybe they’d spend more! I won’t have as many sunflowers next time to test. Irony is I thought I seeded a couple hundred at once but it feels like maybe 60% germinated? 😅

[@shawnsg]

@@bareflowerfarm yeah, I can see that. Mainly selling them by then stem would be a one off for the display thing. That's a pretty abysmal germination rate lol. Mine was in the 90% range on the first couple I tracked. Have you tried soaking them in water beforehand? I think I saw a study showing seed priming improved germination rates for some sunflowers.

[@bareflowerfarm]

That’s a good idea and I think I’m going to start doing that. I was afraid they would get stuck in the earthway seeder!

[@firehorsewoman414]

@@bareflowerfarm when I would go to the market with my children (very young) they would always want a bouquet but I would always buy a single stem if they had it for each of my kids to carry around. What’s $1-2 to make them happy. I still bought the bouquet for the house, but it kept them from wanting to carry it and ultimately beat it up before it made it home. Do you know if anyone takes their less than perfect flowers and donates them to nursing care - a potential write off plus make people happy. Is this a good idea or bad idea? Seems like it would be better than the compost pile.

[@ambethk77]

Ian and Serena are also in Canada so $20 Canadian is almost exactly $15 American.

[@bareflowerfarm]

It’s a very fair point!

[@kmagslove3983]

Curious as to what the vase life is for your customers, with harvesting so many days prior to your market. I find most folks purchase locally grown flowers because they have an incredible vase life. But it would seem the majority of that vase life is being wasted on your storage time. No?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Definitely not! In fact the sunflowers that get stored in the fridge last for a good 2 weeks. We consistently have customers who basically buy a bouquet and then come back in 2 weeks to buy another one, right as the last one has died. We only store sunflowers in the fridge for up to 1.5 weeks. Most others are a week max which is typical

[@helenachase5627]

Sunflowers are too expensive. Im leaning on tons of rudbekia. Ive never planted them like you directly

[@bareflowerfarm]

When you say sunflowers aren’t popular, are you selling them in straight bunches? I find that straight bunches aren’t popular but sunflowers in bouquets are. Sunflowers were my most profitable crop last year when you include the labor / time element. I planted less this year bc I’m not doing markets but I still love them 🙂

[@LongislandnativeSanctuary]

eek, the 1st book is $140 on amazon

[@bareflowerfarm]

Soooo, Amazon is unfortunately a terrible place to buy the book. Are you a member of ASCFG? If so, there's a discount! It is $85 for non members and $70 for member. I know it's pricey for a book, but worth it to me because it has helped save me from high value product going to waste! www.ascfg.org/shop/books/

[@veronicamartinezmedema8273]

Thank you so much for sharing you skills and resources. I’m from California but I live in the Netherlands and am looking to starting a flowers business and sell at markets. Thank you